Freiburg is still awesome!
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2010
1
31
Trip End
Sep 02, 2010
Where I stayed
Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Another long blog and lots to report! I am currently in Freiburg and we are spending three nights here before Leanne goes home on Wednesday. Then I have a week on my own and then it's time for me to go home!
Last weekend I took an epic train journey from Barcelona, needing to end up in Cologne, Germany, where I was to meet up with Leanne and Vanessa. There were many elements to my trip, and lots of chances to go wrong, but it all worked out perfectly! I took a slow train back to the border, then a night train to Paris, which was sweltering hot, but in the end I slept pretty well! The most dicey part was that the night train arrived at Paris Austerlitz and then had a half hour to figure out the Metro and get to Paris Nord across the city for my fast train to Cologne. I was first out of the train, found the metro right away, bought a ticket quickly, and arrived at the platform just in time for a train, which had virtually nobody on it, and found my platform very quickly at Paris Nord. Sweet! Also, on my train to Cologne I got upgraded to first class for no charge and so I got a lot of freebies, including free breakfast, which was incredibly good!
Arrived in Cologne on Sunday to Leanne and Vanessa waiting for me! We checked into our hostel and then went to visit the colossal Dom. I did see the Dom the last time, but we didn’t climb to the top of the tower before, so we did that this time, which was stellar! Great views! Or, there would have been if it hadn’t been raining. By the time we got down, it was raining so hard, we didn’t know what to do. Leanne came up with an awesome idea to go to the mineral baths in the city, which we did. Wow, what a great time! It was like the mineral baths I went to in Aachen on my last trip! The best part was the fast jetted whirlpool, where it is actually physically difficult to get out of the swirl if you want to. So awesome! We spent the evening playing cards at the hostel! A lot of fun!
Monday was a bit of a bust, because I had an interview with Parks Canada at 4 pm. We had planned on taking a train ride down the Rhine Valley, which we did, and the girls got to see lots, but I only got about a 20-minute walk before I had to get on the train back to Cologne for my interview. The interview actually went super super well, so I am optimistic and hopeful. In the evening, we took a fast train to Berlin.
Berlin is a truly amazing city. I was even more fascinated with it the second time around, and I got to see a lot of things I didn’t see before. On Tuesday we saw the Holocaust Memorial and the Brandenburg Gate, and then took a "Third Reich" walking tour, which focused on Nazi history and the rise and fall of Hitler’s regime. Very detailed and the guide was very very good. We really enjoyed seeing some of the main sites that remain from that era. At night we went to VAPIANO! and then came back to the hostel.
Wednesday, Vanessa had to leave, but in the morning we went and visited Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, an epic look at the Cold War era. My favourite thing about Berlin (again) is the chain of double bricks that cut through the city, showing the former path of the Berlin wall. Leanne put it best when she called it a “scar” on the city, and another example of how Germany is very open and transparent about its turbulent past.
Unfortunately, both Leanne and I have become quite sick, and while we’re not letting it get to us, it has meant that we have been sleeping away some afternoons out of fatigue. So, that pretty much took care of Wednesday for us.
Thursday we got up very early to visit the Reichstag, the German Parliament. Very very cool building with lots of history, this time more generically about Germany. It was pretty close to our hostel, which was near the Hauptbahnhof, and so it wasn’t too bad to walk there. Even though we went for right at the opening, we still had to wait in line about an hour. But it was worth it, and free! Our afternoon was given away to another nap, and in the evening we went down to the Kurfürstendamm (the Ku’damm), a trendy restaurant and bar street. Very hopping city!
Friday we took another long train ride down to Stuttgart. We decided on Stuttgart because I didn’t really visit it on my last trip, but also because everything is always booked up, and it was the only place we could find any accommodation! The train ride took almost all day, but in the evening, we went to some more mineral baths, because that is one thing Stuttgart is known for. These ones weren’t as fancy as the ones in Cologne, but they also weren’t that expensive, so it was all good. The evening was a failed attempt to find a bar or beer hall, and we just ended up lamely back at our hotel.
Saturday we went to the Mercedes-Benz museum, which was super interesting and cool to see all the nice cars. The only thing was that it is a huge, long museum, so after three of the eight floors, we kind of checked out and pretty much had to leave. It also made us both really want to buy new cars. Hehe!
Finally, today, we decided kind of impulsively to rent a car (since I am out of travel days on my train pass) and drive to Freiburg through the Black Forest. Best decision we have made yet! It gave us a change of pace and we felt open and free! Also, our car is AMAZING! It drives so well and it looks sleek and modern, and has glorious air conditioning! Not to mention I was back on the correct side of the street!
Driving through the Black Forest was SO NICE! We stopped in two towns, Schamberg and Triberg, and both were VERY quaint and offered beautiful views! We then took a twisty ride through the forest to get to Freiburg! Such a great day! Our hotel in Freiburg is a bit underwhelming, but we’ll just have to deal with it!
Plan for the nest few days: Three nights in Freiburg with Leanne, One night here alone, two nights in Karlsruhe, two nights in Mannheim, three nights in Frankfurt. Then home!! Yahoo! I can’t wait for the cottage and… readily available a/c. It is TOO HOT here to have no air conditioning anywhere! Give me Manitoba winter ANY DAY over this atrocious heat!
Take care and see you soon!
Wayne
Comments
Great entry! I understand when you're busy having so much fun it's hard to write but it's good to get a summary of what you've up to. Hope you enjoy the week or so of your trip!
Sounds like great fun. Looking forward to seeing you!